As training camp gets closer and closer and Brandon Saad endears himself to more and more Ohio fans (lose the Wahoo*, Brandon, but otherwise SPOT ON!), I’m trying to remember a pre-season with this much anticipation. Maybe last year, given the team’s April 2014 playoff performance, though the pall of the Johansen contract holdout was hanging over the team. With the addition of Brandon Saad, it feels as though the fans are as primed for this team as they were any other…
…except maybe 2011.
Woah.
[*not trying to start a political or PC/notPC? argument in the comments about Wahoo. I’m personally not a fan of Wahoo anymore, but I’ll leave it at that and spare you all the pains of the discussion. No judgments either way from me, though, sincerely.]
Back to 2011. Before any of the big fireworks (Jeff Carter, James Wisniewski, Vinny Prospal), the Jackets were winding down the season in April. I was still writing for Waiting For Next Year at the time, but had been in contact with Matt about some joint podcasting ideas I’d had. And then I got an e-mail from him, saying the he and Mike were looking for another full time writer. Was I interested?
Well, in a word, YES.
My audience for the CBJ hadn’t grown at all over three years with WFNY (understandably), and Mike and Matt were offering me a chance to write about the CBJ full time for an audience hungry for CBJ writing. It was perfect. Fast forward four years, and what we’ve all done together (us the writers, and YOU the community) has been nothing short of awesome.
But, back in that April month when hope was about to spring eternal with the CBJ’s most aggressive off-season ever, I was listening to the new Explosions in the Sky album Take Care, Take Care, Take Care. It isn’t my favorite work of theirs, but there aren’t too many other bands whose entire catalog works as background music for just about any situation: work, social gatherings, even bus trips across the island of Ireland (yep, my wife and I did that once back in 2007 right after All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone had come out, and I can say it was one of the more seminal experiences of the trip for me).
So, for today’s Musical Throwback, I’m going back to April of 2011. I was about to be a new writer for The Cannon, and EitS was reminding me to Take Care, Take Care, Take Care.
Take Care, one and all. Enjoy!